Idea Outline
Your bath tap got broken at the weekend? Your washing machine suddenly stopped working and you need to repair it right away? No problem, we fix your broken objects, you do your… Home…works!

The Challenge
As soon as something gets broken, many people just throw it away for a variety of reasons. For example, they just don’t know who can repair it, or they are just lazy, or maybe they think it is too expensive to repair, without even giving a try. Usually people just give the broken objects to shops for free or, even worse, they throw them in the rubbish. This means wasting materials, and tend to have a bad impact both on economic and environmental points of view, since tons of objects are thrown away even if they could be easily repaired. This behavior leads to huge earnings for industries usually located outside the EU, but is a waste of money for the customers. But now, if one is lazy or doesn’t have time to repair or have the objects repaired, they can use “Home…works!”.

The Solution

Home…works! is a web portal where anyone can subscribe either as generic user or domain expert, such as plumber, electrician, wall painter, bricklayer or any jobs that could be helpful to repair something broken in the house. People can easily find domain experts anywhere and anytime to repair their broken objects or just sell broken objects: these could be bought by domain experts, that could then repair and selling them to someone else (or keep for themselves). Community could evaluate the domain experts and give feedback on their work, making sure that only the best workers receive high scores on the website. Broken objects still do have value and can produce savings for their owner. In the future this service could also be extended to other works like babysitters or carriers.

Target group and social impact
Home…works! goal is to be a website for object reparation, allowing generic users to save time and money rather than throwing away objects that could still be used. This would lead to economic and environmental advantages. Another interesting benefit for generic users could be broken objects sell: those objects could be bought by a domain expert, that could repair them and resell them or keep them for himself/herself. An alternative could be just use some parts of the broken objects to assembly a new functioning object. Furthermore, domain experts can
easily be found on the platform and acquire new customers, increasing their income. Finally, apart from economic benefits, environment would be one of the main beneficiaries, due to the reduction of waste and recycle of materials.

Competences of the applicant
I am a handyman without a steady job. Every day I see people leaving broken objects near the rubbish trash and I can’t tolerate it anymore, considering how many people are unemployed nowadays. So it would be nice having a web platform to help me find occasional jobs easily. I am writing this project with a project manager and an engineering student to develop the platform.